Just Joshua by Jan Michael Read Free Book Online Page A

sunbounced off the whitewashed hospital walls, almost blinding him. He screwed up his eyes and stared intently, trying to throw his thoughts out to the mountain man inside.
    The white habit of a nun flashed past the window, distracting him. He glanced away. When he looked back, the ceiling fan had been turned on. Its blades clanked, spun, gathered speed and whirred. Watching it spin made him dizzy. His concentration was gone. He ground his left heel into the sand and rubbed his right toes against his ankle where an old mosquito bite suddenly itched. His stomach rumbled.
    Tom and Millie had their heads together and were whispering. Joshua took a step towards them.
    ‘Hey, you three!’ Robert hissed. ‘You’ve got to think!’
    Tom, Millie and Miriam obediently resumed their staring. Joshua scowled. If it hadn’t been for him, they wouldn’t even be here now, he thought resentfully. But Robert always had to be in charge of everything.
    He looked up at the window, the sun blinking back at him from the walls. In the background he could hear the waves breaking on the beach. He must concentrate. He forced himself to picture the mountain man as he had seen him being led in to the hospital. He remembered how the man had stumbled, saw again the fear and the appeal in his eyes. Holding that image in his mind, he tried to force his will through the openwindow to the patient lying inside.
    Now he was able to shut out his friends, the sea, the sun, the building, until all that was left in the world was Joshua and the mountain man.
    Something came flying out of the window and fell right at Joshua’s feet, kicking up a little puff of dust as it landed. None of his friends moved, but he could feel their eyes on him. Joshua stooped and picked up the blue-grey stone, placing it carefully in the palm of his left hand.
    Slowly he transferred it to his right hand and polished it on his tattered shorts. Then he held it up and the others gathered round to admire. The figure had four legs, horns on its head, and the lines etched on its back and sides suggested a shaggy coat. Joshua didn’t know what it was. Like the snake, it too was flawed; one of the legs had snapped off at the knee and only a stump remained of the left horn. Millie reached out to stroke the carving.
    ‘Careful!’ Joshua said.
    ‘I am being careful,’ she answered, delicately running her fingers over its head. He watched her jealously and pulled the carving away as soon as he could. All of a sudden he didn’t like her touching it. The carving was clearly meant for him . He wished he had never shared his secret.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    In the early darkness cockroaches converged on a piece of fish that had fallen to the ground. They clambered on top of each other in their haste to get at it, antennae waving wildly. Footsteps approached. The greedier ones, busily gorging, didn’t notice until it was too late and a large foot landed on top of them.
    Robert felt a crunchy squelch beneath his toes. ‘Ugh.’ He rubbed his foot hard on the earth to clean off the mess. Round the corner of the shop he could hear water gurgling. He found Joshua at the standpipe, scouring a pan under the tap. Robert stuck his foot under the running water. ‘Hello.’
    ‘Oh, hello, big feet.’ Joshua picked up another handful of earth and scrubbed it into the pan until it was clean. Satisfied, he rinsed it out.
    ‘Want to come and watch the tourists from the ship?’ Robert asked.
    ‘Sure,’ he said.
    But Robert wasn’t listening. He was staring at Joshua’s father who was seated on a bench in a pool of light, whittling away at a piece of wood that he heldjammed between his knees.
    ‘What’s he making?’ Robert asked.
    Joshua shrugged. As far as he knew, his father had never finished a carving.
    Robert went over to him and gazed at the knife, moving rhythmically backwards and forwards, scraping and shaping the wood.
    ‘Please, what are you making?’ he asked politely.
    There was no answer.